Cut From The Same Cloth: The Mother-Daughter Duo Who Dress the Island at Gingy’s
Jean (left) and Betsy Tremblay in front of Gingy's Boutique.
By Jack Byrne
Nestled in the heart of Stone Harbor’s downtown business district is Gingy’s Boutique, a family-owned and operated apparel store that has clothed the women of Seven Mile Beach for the past 14 years.
Jean and Betsy Tremblay, of Berwyn, Pa., are the talented mother-daughter pair behind the designer women’s clothing store chain spanning three locations across the East Coast. Jean and her daughter Betsy have always shared a passion for fashion.
“Something that the both of us like is the creative part,” says Betsy. “It’s fun for us. We’re both visual merchandisers. We see things as prints and we like to design prints. We try to design styles of clothing that we think are missing in the market and think our customers would like.”
In the fashion industry, however, creative decisions aren’t always a surefire success, which is something Jean and Betsy have been able to effectively troubleshoot together.
“It’s really great to have somebody else to talk things through with,” Jean says. “You’re not always 100 percent sure about things – anything from who to hire versus what [inventory] to buy. It’s nice to have somebody to bounce things off of.”
“Not everyone could work so closely with their mother,” Betsy says. “I just feel lucky that we can do it. We just get each other. We have a different kind of communication that other people wouldn’t have. Because of our relationship, we can know what each of us is thinking at certain times and can help each other. I’m not going to say it’s perfect all the time. Of course, we have our little tiffs – you can ask our employees that – but for the most part, we really enjoy working together and we both feel really lucky.”
Their store’s name comes from Jean’s childhood nickname. To set her apart from her Aunt Jean, the family used her middle initial, calling her “Jean G” which quickly turned into “Gingy,” and the rest was history.
Jean first got into the art of designing clothes in what she calls a “roundabout way.” Constantly looking for a creative outlet in life, Jean pursued an art degree at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts with a concentration in printmaking. After her time in school, Jean tried silk screening in her basement, but with four little ones running around, it was nearly impossible for her to find the time.
Instead of at-home printmaking, Jean began making wreaths and floral arrangements, which led to her joining art cooperatives in the years that followed. After selling florals, antiques, and jewelry at one of the co-ops, an opportunity arose when the person who made clothing left the group. Jean used that as her chance to get back to her wheelhouse and never looked back.
Being the only daughter of Jean’s four children, Betsy was often right by her mother’s side at the art co-ops, learning the tricks of the clothes-making trade. Betsy went on to study marketing at Elon University and had an international internship with Anthropologie in London. While a career in fashion was bound to happen for Betsy, never did she see herself working for her mother.
For years, regular customers at Gingy’s original location in Malvern, Pa., pleaded with Jean to open a sister store in their summer vacation town of Stone Harbor. After nearly five years in business in Malvern, Jean answered her customers’ prayers by opening the second Gingy’s location on Third Avenue in the spring of 2012.
Once working summers at the shore and independently from her mother was finally an option, Betsy was fully on board to join the Gingy’s team.
“I knew I wanted to be in fashion,” Betsy says. “The Malvern store didn’t always feel like mine, but once we started in Stone Harbor, I could make it more of my own thing.”
Along with the Stone Harbor location, Gingy’s has two other locations in its catalogue, the newest of which opened in 2016 in Newport, R.I. The iconic coastal New England town is where Jean’s mother and grandparents originally resided, and is home to many of the Tremblays’ current relatives, including Jean’s cousin Ann Trapp, who manages the Bellevue Avenue location.
“As a child, I spent a lot of time there,” Jean says. “My husband and I were married there and we used to go there for a little vacation every summer … It’s kind of cool because [Gingy’s] is right down the street from where my great-uncle used to have a store, so it’s like going home.”
The first Gingy’s Boutique opened its doors in Malvern in the fall of 2007. Years later, Gingy’s flagship store moved to Wayne, Pa., at an unfortunate time in the winter of 2020. After months of renovations, the Wayne location was only open for three days before the COVID-19 pandemic shut its doors for months. But the shutdown wasn’t all that bad.
“It was actually a gift because it gave us time,” Jean says. “We were always running around like chickens with our heads cut off, and we never really had time to sit, and think, and figure out what was the best thing for us to do. As far as our designing, we suddenly had time, and the result of that was a much better product in the end.”
Though both the Pennsylvania and Stone Harbor stores have changed addresses times over the years, Gingy’s consistency has always lied with its carefully handpicked and handcrafted inventory. Gingy’s carries a variety of designer women’s clothing. From Duffield Lane sundresses, to Fifteen Twenty cardigans, and Kut from the Kloth jeans, Gingy’s has all the names and styles perfect for hot sunny days and cool breezy nights. Along with its meticulously chosen name brand clothes, Gingy’s is also home to two lines of its own clothing: the Gingy brand and the Fennerton collection.
While the Gingy brand is made conventionally in California with modern screen printing, the Fennerton collection is handmade in India with venerable block printing. “It’s like an ancient art,” Betsy says. “We can’t really recreate that. There are a lot of options for us in the marketplace, but these are like their own works of art in my eyes.”
The materials and patterns of the clothing in both the Gingy and Fennerton lines are personally determined by Jean and Betsy. Two Fennerton collection items in particular that Gingy’s has struggled to keep in stock have been their Bristol skirt/short hybrid “skorts” and sleeveless Rye dresses. Though all of Gingy’s inventory is of the highest quality, the Fennerton collection’s uniqueness has helped it stand out among the rest.
“The block printing is really beautiful and people love it,” Betsy says. “What’s nice about it too is that it’s 100 percent cotton. What we do in California is a different fabrication. It kind of just speaks to different people in different ways. Being able to work in India was a nice addition to our collection for sure.”
Gingy’s is also unique compared to other larger retailers because their managers and employees keep their ears close to the ground as to exactly what their customers want and use that feedback to influence what products are carried on the shelves.
“What we have going for us that a lot of designers don’t is that we are in the fitting rooms with these people and hearing their stories,” Betsy says. “When we make our own designs, we’re thinking of what women want for their bodies so that they feel good. That’s not how every designer thinks because they’re not in the dressing room with them or they’re a size zero. Designing for women who we actually work with personally is a big advantage for us … We know what our customers want, and they usually like what we make them.”
She adds: “Seeing women learn how to love themselves is also a very nice part of it because women are hard on themselves and we see it every day. It’s really nice for us to help make them feel like themselves again.”
Gingy’s not only empowers its customers with inclusive custom clothing, but also helps positively shape the next generation of young independent women with its employees. “A lot of them start out very quiet and shy,” Betsy says. “Then over time they kind of open up and you can just tell that they’ve blossomed into a more grown person.”
“You can really influence them and give them good skills,” Jean says. “You can get them to understand it’s important to show up on time, it’s important to meet commitments, and that you, too, can help people find things to make them feel good about themselves.”
Along with Gingy’s young seasonal employees, Stone Harbor regulars love to stop by the store on their morning walks to visit their favorite employees year after year.
“It’s really turned into a nice little working community here,” Betsy says. “Some person we hired this year might be with us for the next 10 years, and then they might have a granddaughter who comes to work for us. … Stone Harbor is such a tight-knit community. At this location specifically, people just pop in and hang out, so we have a chance to get to know people a lot more personally.”
Each April, the women of Gingy’s generously donate their time, talent, and fashions to the Play with Jack Foundation’s annual Fashion Show at the Yacht Club of Stone Harbor. Their support helps create one of the community’s most anticipated fundraising events, benefiting local families facing cancer and financial hardship.
The elegant styles and communal bonds that the Tremblays and their employees have brought to Gingy’s and Stone Harbor as a whole is truly special and worth stopping in for a visit during a stay at the Jersey Shore. Summer vacationers and Seven Mile Beach residents can find the Gingy’s Stone Harbor location at 9718 Third Ave., with sister stores at 111 N. Wayne Ave. in Wayne, and 196 Bellevue Ave. in Newport.